When the Hubs and I decided to start our New Year off right, we went full force ahead toward making healthy choices one by one and slowly. At first he even logged his food! But soon, he realized it wasn’t for him so I was logging by myself. That’s when I turned to MyFitnessPal.com. 

Both a cousin of mine and a really good friend from childhood had talked it up to me for a while so I finally too the plunge and signed up. I mean, it was absolutely FREE so what did I have to lose? Sure, I balked at first because while I wanted to log my food so I could be more aware of what I was doing, I didn’t necessarily want to count calories. I mean, what’s fun in that?

But I joined anyway and quickly became enamored with all the tools now at my finger tips. It was WAY better than logging the way I had been all this time. Like, if I type in how long I’m on my elliptical, it posts how many calories I burned (well, estimated). It was exciting and made me feel good about what I was doing, especially when friends I knew in real life and other health nuts I met on forums would comment “Nice Burn!” or “Keep it up!” Maybe I really just needed a daily dose of encouragement every now and then?

And the food logging is way easier than I thought it would be and not as terrifying as I assumed the site would make it. It has a widespread data base with the nutrition facts for all kinds of foods– including restaurant meals we all know and love. While I don’t count calories, it did make me more conscious about how silly I had been about some things, simply because I wasn’t aware. For example, if I made crepes for my house guests for brunch…you know…with Nutella and strawberries and bananas (yum!), I used to just assume that I ruined the day for myself and either try to over compensate or throw the baby out with the bath water and eat terribly the rest of the weekend.

Well, last time my brother was here, I decided to log my crepes before I even made them for everyone and realized that the way I was going to make it really wasn’t a ridiculous entry like I had assumed. I seriously could eat my crepes, enjoy them, and not bat an eye at it. After all, it’s all about balance right?

The thing about balance though is it can be completely unachievable if we don’t educate ourselves or make ourselves more away of what’s going on. Sure, it’s one thing to say I’m going to eat healthy, but it’s another thing to understand how to achieve that goal. Even vegetarians can over do it with certain foods and have just as many health problems as someone who eats meat. You can be on whatever meal plan, diet, or whatever you want– but if you don’t find the balance between knowledge, action, and happiness– it’s just all for nothing. It’ll make you miserable. AND you won’t see the results you want.

MyFitnessPal helped me finally figure out how to see balance on a page, and boy, does it feel good. ESPECIALLY when you track your weight loss. They make little buttons you can put on your website and everything.

Plus, if you’re a fan of the iPhone, it comes with a nifty app so you can take it with you wherever you go.

Anyone else on this site too or are you on the fence about joining? Want to be friends on MyFitnessPal? Search my username MrsHealthyEverAfter, and I’d be happy to cheer you on with your goals as well!